It is necessary for commutation using an IEEE802.11 wireless LAN to set, in a device, wireless parameters including a communication channel, network identifier (SSID), encryption scheme, encryption key, authentication scheme, and authentication key. Normally, such wireless parameters are set by using the user interface of a device. However, this work is cumbersome. It is particularly difficult to input the character string of, for example, a network identifier or encryption key to a device except a personal computer (to be referred to as a PC hereinafter), such as a digital camera or printer.
In recent years, easy wireless parameter setting methods have been proposed. They are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,782,260 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-159053), U.S. Pre-Granted Publication No. 2005/0170774 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-198154), and U.S. Pre-Granted Publication No. 2006/0045272 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-067174).
An example of a method of setting a wireless parameter in a current wireless LAN product will be described below.
First, a PC is connected to an access point (to be referred to as an AP hereinafter) by wire. A wireless parameter input by the user is transferred to the AP, thereby setting the wireless parameter of the AP. Next, a wireless communication apparatus (e.g., printer) that requests connection to the AP is connected to the PC by wire. A wireless parameter of the wireless communication apparatus is set by the same operation as described above. The same wireless parameter is set in the AP and wireless communication apparatus by this method. This allows wireless LAN connection between the AP and the wireless communication apparatus.
In the wireless parameter setting method using a PC, it is necessary to connect the PC to a wireless communication apparatus by wire every time a wireless parameter is to be set in the wireless communication apparatus that requests to join in a wireless network.
In many cases, a PC normally joins in a network. Hence, in setting a wireless parameter in a wireless communication apparatus, the setting is required to be done via the network.